I have this little aluminium block plane that is similar to the Stanley No. 101.
It is 3 3/16″ long with a 1″ wide blade.
‘KNAPP U.S.A.’ is cast on the bed behind the blade & ‘L’ is cast into the thumb rest ahead of the blade.
Planes of this size were originally more for toy tool chests, but their popularity led them being marketed more as a craftsman’s tool.
While I found a few of the planes as having been for sale via eBay (or similar) – I didn’t find much information about them or the company.
But I did find the attached advertisement by the Knapp Foundry Co. from 1947. It seems the 101 size plane was referred to as the ‘Lion Midget Utility Plane’. Which probably explains the ‘L’ cast into the thumb rest.
I did find a photo of the Knapp Foundry, but nothing that told me the range of dates that they operated from. There was an advert for another product (not a plane) from early in the 20th Century, but the use of aluminium for tools probably dates the plane closer to the 1940’s.
